Coronation Wives Read Online Free

man—’
    ‘How do you spell that?’
    She told him. The tip of his tongue wavered at the side of his mouth as he wrote her name. She couldn’t believe it. Was he really more interested in getting her name right than finding her attacker?
    ‘Address?’
    A draught of air came into the waiting room as the door to the street opened behind her. Nervously Janet glanced over her shoulder again.
    A uniformed constable smiled and nodded at her then opened another door and disappeared.
    Thank you.
    The sergeant scratched her address line by line. Janet bit her bottom lip as her eyes followed the slow progress of the pen to inkwell and back to the ledger. Her nerve was slipping and if someone did come in, she might lose it completely. She had to hurry him up.
    ‘My telephone number is—’
    His response was immediate, like a bird of prey suddenly spotting an easy meal. We don’t need that. Not everyone has got a telephone, you know. Only them that can afford it.’
    Janet hugged her handbag. ‘I only thought—’
    He stretched to his full height – far too tall for the opening through which he was speaking. He appeared cut off at the neck. ‘You don’t need to think, miss. That’s what we’re here for. You’ve lost something or had something stolen, and we know how to go about looking for it. Now!’ he said, sliding his wooden handled pen into a groove in the counter. ‘Let me guess. You’ve lost something, though not your handbag I see.’ He pointed to the black patent bag that was looking positively dull with perspiration.
    ‘I’ve already told you. A man attacked me.’
    ‘Oh yes.’ He sounded unconvinced and eyed her cautiously.
    Janet was disappointed. Somehow she had expected him to spring into action, take quick notes and order a bevy of police constables to scour the streets – and that before she had given a description of either the man or what had happened. The rest of her words came tumbling out.
    She squeezed her eyes tightly shut.
    Please, don’t let anyone come in. Please don’t let anyone hear this.
    At last she found her voice. ‘A man dragged me onto the waste land and then he …’ She fought to say the word, half-hoping that he would say it for her. He did not. He was unsmiling.
    She managed to blurt it out. ‘He raped me!’
    Sounds from the world outside, traffic, footsteps and the cry of ‘
Evening World
and
Evening Post
’ came in with new arrivals. She was vaguely aware of a brightly coloured dress, a man smelling of pipe tobacco and stale sweat. They took their place in the queue behind her. The door opened again. Someone else joined the queue, then another, and another. The place was filling up.
    The sergeant glanced at the door each time it opened before turning his attention back to her. ‘So where and when did this
alleged
offence happen?’ He stressed the word ‘alleged’, so it sounded almost criminal.
    ‘On Friday night when I left the Odeon. I decided to cut up through—’
    ‘What time was this?’
    Having caught the gist of the sergeant’s questioning, the newly arrived were silent. She could feel them watching her and passing instant judgement based on what the policeman was saying.
    She couldn’t stop her voice from shaking. ‘After ten – about ten thirty.’
    The sergeant let out a heavy, knowing sigh. ‘Right! It was after ten, getting dark and you had decided to walk home alone and a man forced his attentions on you in a sexual manner. Don’t you think you were asking for it?’
    He had not lowered his voice. Janet felt the colour racing up her neck and onto her cheeks. She could feel the gazes of those behind her piercing into her back.
    ‘No!’
    ‘An old boyfriend, was it?’
    ‘No! Of course it wasn’t!’
    Her face was on fire. She wanted to scream. She wanted to cry, but most of all she wanted to get out of here, away from his accusations and those of the people standing in the queue.
    His expression smug, he leaned on the counter, brawny